A/N: Very little action in this chapter. I'm just trying to get the teams to know each other. I promise there will be some action in the next chapter. Anyway were getting close to seeing if the CSI's can handle a proper English night out which should be fun. Enjoy!

The smell of burning flesh floated through the room. All he could see was darkness. He knew his eyes were shut but he could still sense everything in the room. The tall maple desks and their tops marked with words written by past users. He felt he was being drawn to the front of the room where thick ruby curtains hid the windows. The light scattered through them using the various small gaps as filters. Then he sensed a girl in the room. He turned and saw her gazing towards the curtains with her back to him. He took a few steps towards her and as he did the smell got worst. Suddenly the word, 'Grass' burned through the back her burgundy blazer causing it to burst to flames and fall to the floor. The word 'Grass' was burnt into the skin of her slender back. Her blonde hair was a mess and he could see the small puddle of tears around her feet. He reached forward to touch her shoulder.

"Katy?" She turned at the sound of his voice. He face was bruised and her eyes were weary.

"Why didn't you help me?"

James shot from his sleep and found himself in a lonely hospital bed. He wiped the sweat from his forehead before attempting to focus his vision. He rubbed his eyes and began to see someone's outline standing at the side of the bed, next to him.

"You alright?" Her voice sounded gentle. He turned and saw her blonde curly hair and with that perfume, he knew who it was instantly.

"Yeah I'm fine," He looked around the room and found that it was just them alone. She reached forward and placed her hand on his trying to calm his breathing.

"What did you dream about?" He reached up and checked his arm. There was a tight bandage around his upper arm which caused slight restriction of its movement. "They checked it over and it was just a flesh wound but you lost a lot of blood. They were talking about keeping you in for observation," James huffed under his breath.

"Like hell they are," He removed the white bed covers that he had been laid underneath and swung his feet out to the floor. Thankfully he was still wearing his underwear. She walked around the bed and stood next to him. He stood up with no problems apart from a slight pain in his arm. "Where's my kit Danielle?"

"You didn't answer my question James?" She crossed her arms over her chest. He knew better than to argue with her and all he could do was sigh.

"Come on Danni, you know I've had the same dream since I was 16," It was her time to sigh and she sat on the edge of the bed.

"James?" He was looking around the room for his clothes. She reached up and placed her hand on his chin forcing her to look at her. "As a team, we have slept in close proximity for the past four years. Every time, you have jumped out of your sleep in a cold sweat but I have never heard you say shout a name while you're dreaming before," He looked at her in confusion before looking around the room again.

"Huh that's a new one…anyway I'm fine," He saw his clothes draped over a nearby chair and walked over to them. He began to dress while Danielle was still sat on the bed. He carefully pulled on a black t-shirt and then the pair of dark trousers. He sat down on the chair and began pulling on his boots. He pulled the laces to make sure they were tight and he winced as a pain shot up his arm. Danielle heard him wince and she stood up off the bed.

"Do you want me to tie them for you?" She asked as she walked across the room. He continued to tie his laces but he looked up at her with a questioning look.

"I appreciate your concern Danni, but I think I can handle it," He smiled at her and she smiled back. When he had finished tying his laces, he stood up and straightened himself out. He saw a small mirror on the wall and stepped up to it. His hair was a complete mess. He used his hands to try and straighten it out but with no real luck.

"Where are the guys?"

"I left them watching the lab," She answered. "We didn't want to be in the way while they were getting that place back up and running so were just watching the place for now," James nodded his approval and turned to her. His hair was still a mess but it looked a little more presentable. The door to the room opened and a tall man wearing a white lab coat entered. He had his nose into a file and didn't realise the two were staring at him.

"Mr. Phoenix?" He final looked up from the file and noticed the patient was out of bed. "I'm Doctor Belkin, how are you feeling?"

"Fit as a fiddle Doc," He lifted his wounded arm and flexed it showing the muscles underneath the sleeve of the t-shirt. "Come on Danni, let get going," They both began to walk towards the door. James opened it and ushered Danni through it.

"Mr. Phoenix, I really think you should stay here for a few more hours for observations," James turned in the door and grabbed the handle.

"Thanks for the invitation Doc, but I got work to do," He slammed the door shut and followed Danni out of the hospital. As they stepped out into the Nevada sun, she pointed to the Hummer in a nearby parking space. "Just out of curiosity Danni, what name did I shout in my sleep?" She stopped and looked at him quizitively.

"Sara,"

The shift had been pretty much uneventful mainly due to the fact that lab was being fixed up from the night before. They had gone over the evidence from the racial case again making sure none of it was damaged or missing. They hadn't seen their bodyguards since James had been taken off in the ambulance the night before but somehow they knew that they were safe. Nick was checking the integrity of each piece of evidence as Sara ticked off the different items as the appeared from the different storage boxes.

"The fingerprints from the mantelpiece look ok as do the crime scene photographs," He looked up at Sara to find her staring into thin air. He cleared his throat a few times but still she stared. He looked behind him out into the corridor but couldn't see anything special. "Why didn't you take the leave that Grissom offered you?" He knew that starting a conversation with Sara about leave would break her concentration on anything and of course he was right. She snapped out of her daze as soon as he finished his sentence.

"Because I'm fine," She adjusted her stance as to warn Nick off the topic. Their beepers went off almost simultaneously. They both read the message and then gave a confused look at each other. They quickly sealed up the evidence again and made their way to the break room. When they arrived, they saw Greg stood with Warrick. "Hey guys, what's with the page?"

"Yeah, 'Important! Break room now!'?" They turned round to see Grissom and Catherine walking into the room.

"Hey Grissom, what's with the page?" Warrick asked.

"I didn't send it, I got the same message as everyone else," He said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"I sent out the message," Ecklie said from the doorway. He took a few steps into the room. "I heard that they were on their way here and I thought I'd get both teams together for a proper introduction," There was a knock on the open door as the receptionist popped her head in.

"Mr.Ecklie," He turned towards her. "They have arrived and are waiting in reception,"

"Ok Judie, you can let them in," She walked out of the room and disappeared around a corner. Ecklie turned back towards his nightshift. "I'm told the lab will be full operational again by your next shift tomorrow night. We still don't have a way of processing DNA until they fix the machine or replace it so if you've catalogued the evidence your team can have the rest of the shift off," Everyone in the room looked shocked at Conrad's sudden generosity. He left the room as quickly as he had entered. Sara was looking at Greg when she saw his eyes grow wide. She turned round and stared down the corridor just in time to see them turn the corner. All six of them, wearing the red jump suits and the black body armour on their torsos. She couldn't see them carrying any weapons but she did notice the white bandage on James' upper arm. He was walking in front of his team, obviously very proud of them. His hair was a little messed up but he still looked respectable. Danielle walked next to him with her curly blonde hair waving over her shoulders. She seemed to be on James' arm most of the time, maybe there was a little thing going on between them. Billy and Kim were behind them, Kim still carrying that silver case around with her. Steve was walking with Wayne a few feet behind. They all looked relaxed, no real expression of their faces. A few of the lab workers noticed their presence as they continued down the corridor towards the break room. They quickly entered the room, nobody really saying a word. After a few moments of silence, James held out his hand towards Gil.

"Dr. Grissom?" Gil nodded his head and shook his hand. James' accent was stronger than the others but it didn't sound like an average English accent. "We heard so much about you Doctor, the Police chiefs in Scotland Yard talk about you and your bugs constantly," Grissom blushed slightly from the praise. "I just wished we had met under happier circumstances,"

"I want to thank you for what you did last night, we are all extremely grateful," Gil motioned to his team who nodded in agreement. James smiled and shook his head. "What can we do you repay you,"

"Don't worry about it Doc," James answered. Danielle stepped forward and whispered something in his ear. "Actually Doc, we haven't had a decent meal since we left England 3 months ago, army rations just aren't what they once were. So if you know of a place, we were wondering if you'd like to join us for some breakfast?" A mobile phone went off in the room and Gil looked at his team who shook their heads none f them recognising the ring tone. James reached into his pocket and pulled out a slim mobile phone. He flipped it open and placed it against his ear. "Phoenix… Yes sir?.. Ok, where are they?… right thanks boss," He closed the phone and slipped it back in his pocket. He turned back to Grissom. "So Breakfast?" Gil looked round at his team before answering.

"Sure, but on one condition," He paused for a few moments before continuing. "I pay for everything," Everyone grinned and laughed a little.

"You've got yourself a deal Doc. Are you guys good to go now or do you need to wait till the end of your shift?"

"Actually we've just been given the rest of the shift off so we can go now," Gil answered. James turned to his team and looked down at their clothes.

"I don't think we need our armour to eat do we. It's a good job we brought some other clothes with us," He turned back to Gil. "You guys have a garage here right?" Gil nodded. "Guys, go get the car and take it to the garage. There's a surprise for us there apparently," His team nodded and left the room. Gil turned to Greg.

"Greg? Will you go and show them where it is please," Gil asked him. Greg simply nodded and also left the room trying to catch them up. "You guys need anything before we go?" he said to the remainder of his team.

"Yeah, I need my purse from the locker room," Catherine said as she walked out the door. Sara smiled.

"Yeah, me too," She said as she also darted from the room. Nick and Warrick also left the room agreeing to meet them in the garage in about 10 minutes.

"You need to do anything before we go Doc?" James asked. Gil quickly checked his pockets and found his wallet in his back pocket. He lifted up for James to see.

"Nope, got everything I need right here,"

"Come on then Doc; show me where the Garage is," Gil smiled and escorted James from the room and through the winding corridors to the Garage. As they approached the glass Grissom could see that there were two cars in the parked in the garage. One was what Gil presumed was the black Hummer that they had brought with them. The other was smaller car but it was hidden from sight by a silver sheet that hid its entire body. There were several large silver boxes and cases either on the floor near the work benches or on the work benches themselves. James walked passed Grissom and opened the door into the Garage. He held it open for Gil who was still surprised at the contents of the room. He slowly entered the room and noticed another man in the room. He was short, around 5'8 and was wearing a business suit. His silver hair was short much like Grissom's but unlike his it didn't curl; it was spiked up a little instead. The man was looking down at a clipboard and didn't notice them enter the room. "Brains!" James shouted. The man looked up and sighed. He slid the thin framed glasses up his nose.

"I do wish you wouldn't call me that, Mr. Phoenix," He said as he stared at James. James laced his fingers in front of him in mock.

"And how many times must have I told you not to call me that?" James answered back. Gil looked on as 'Brains' sighed again.

"My name is Daniel; in future I would like to be referred to as my real name. Not the nickname you guys gave me, which seems to of spread throughout the office," James laughed. Gil also laughed a little but tried to keep it under his breath. "Now 'James', I would like to get on with this so where is the rest of your team?"

"Their bringing the car round," James answered. He pointed to the several items in the room. "Is this stuff for me?" Daniel nodded his head just as James' team and the CSI's wondered into the room. James and Gil both noted that James's team was not wearing their armour anymore and had adopted some normal clothes. Nothing fashionable, just standard clothing. The guys were wearing different shirts and trousers while the girls were wearing black tank tops and jeans. Everyone looked round the room, surprised at the messiness of the room.

"Brains!" Billy shouted. Daniel quickly shot a look at him. James shot up his hand before Daniel could start ranting again.

"When your ready 'Daniel'," He said with a smirk on his face. Daniel sighed and looked down at the clipboard.

"Ok, this is the new equipment that has been assigned to you by Thomas Edgar. Now some of it is fully tested and some of it is experimental," He walked over to one of the tall silver cases and pressed a few numbers into a keypad on the front. The silver case clicked and Daniel opened it with his free hand. "Six new sets of body armour," Inside, the red and black armour shone. "We have improved them a little using Kevlar surrounding a half an inch of reinforced titanium on the front and back. We've been altering the titanium a little and made it slightly lighter which means that the suits are lighter but stronger. I have also fitted them with a name tag on the back so that you can recognise each other," He walked over to the Hummer and continued talking. "One Hummer H2 kitted out exactly like your other one. The only improvement we've made is this one has the standard 3 inch armour making it completely bullet-proof,"

"Isn't the standard 1 and a half inches?" Steve asked from the back.

"Under testing we found that 1.5 inches will pretty much stop all bullets but not high velocity ones from like a sniper rifle so we upgraded it. The ignition uses finger print technology which has been programmed with your finger prints and those of the people you're protecting just incase," He walked over to another smaller case on work bench. He pressed a few more number into the key pad on the front. "This is a gift from me, there in the experimental phase but I could use them getting some real field action," He reached into the box and pulled two small silver frames. "I call them 'Shockers', their designed to take the shock of a large fall rather than you breaking your legs upon landing. You wear them on the top of half of you legs, and these little rods will hand down below your knees. If you do fall, all you have to do is bend your knees so your feet are behind you and the prongs will take all the shock of the fall and bounce you back to your feet," Everyone smiled at Daniel's pride in his invention. "But I only have one set so I'll let you guys argue over them," He walked over to the opposite workbench to some stack white boxes. "With Las Vegas being a large urban area, Mr. Edgar has decided that your armour might make you stand out so he's given you these, but you can look through those later,"

"What about this Brains?" Billy said pointing to the covered vehicle. Daniel walked over to it, ignoring Billy use of his nickname.

"This is also a gift from Mr.Edgar," He reached down and grabbed the edge of the sheet. "He seems to believe that you might benefit from 'a fast response vehicle' so I thought of this," He pulled back on the sheet revealing the car underneath. James eyes went wide at the sight of the black metallic paint work on the body "I've been working on her for about a year. She's a brand new BMW M3. I've been tweaking under the hood and improved her horsepower big time. She also kitted out with the standard stuff like the plated body armour and I've cleared out the boot for extra storage," He turned and threw a set of keys to James. "Happy Birthday, Mr. Phoenix," James caught the keys a laughed a little. "Well I should get going," He walked over to James and handed him the clipboard and a pen from the inside pocket of his jacket. James quickly scribbled his signature onto the page and handed it back to him with the pen.

"Were going out for some breakfast Daniel, you fancy joining us?" Danielle asked from behind them. Daniel looked at her and shook his head.

"Sorry I have to catch a flight in the next hour. I have to meet some contacts in Cuba," He saluted them and left the room. James walked over and ran the tips of his fingers along the silver stripes along the driver door. He then looked down at the keys in his hand and then at the saloon car before him.

"Why do I think that you guys have something to do with this," He turned and looked at his team. They all shrugged their shoulders and James just shook his head.

"I hate to be the one to say this, but can we go? I'm starving!" Kim muttered. James nodded and they all split up. Danielle and Wayne walked up and sat in the front of the Hummer. They were quickly joined by Warrick, Catherine and Nick who easily fit into the wide back seat of the SUV. Billy, Kim and Steve led Grissom, Sara and Greg outside through the Garage door towards the other Hummer that was parked outside. They stopped when they heard a shout from inside.

"6 people aren't gonna fit in that Hummer," James shouted as he took a step outside. They all stopped and turned towards him. He seemed to give them all quick glances. "Sara you can ride with me," He said as he disappeared back inside.

"Sara?" She turned at the sound of Steve voice behind her. "A little advice, as soon as you get into that car, make sure you put you're seat belt on,"

"Why?"

"Trust me," He turned and walked towards the Hummer parked in a nearby spot. She sighed and walked back into the Garage. By the time she'd got there, James had stripped off his armour and was buttoning up a long sleeved shirt. When he was done, he threw his armour into the back of the Hummer and slammed closed the boot.

"Ok, Danny. I'll catch up," He tapped the body work on the car and Danielle started up the Hummer. It quietly rolled passed Sara who took a few more steps into the garage. She watched as he slowly slid the arms of the shirt above his elbows effectively changing the long sleeve shirt to a short sleeve shirt. He was still wearing his black trousers but with the dark blue shirt it seemed to match. He had left the top button open which made him look much more relaxed than he did wearing the body armour. "You alright?" He opened the passenger door of the mustang and signalled for her to sit. She smiled and walked up to him.

"Yeah I'm fine," She slid into the car and placed her purse on her lap. He closed the door and it was a few seconds before he opened the driver's door and slid in himself. He quickly adjusted his seat and mirrors so he could see ok.

"It's just with what happened last night, I was expecting you to take a few days off," He said as he slid the key into the ignition. Sara sighed.

"Don't you start, I've already had this from Nick," She said jokingly. James laughed and turned the key. The engine roared to life causing the car to shake a little and then settle down. James looked around the car quickly and pressed a button on the dash. A small screen slid out just below the radio. Once it was slid out, it turned and revealed its screen to the driver. James looked down and found a pair of sunglasses. He placed them over his eyes to stop the glare from the morning sun. They wrapped around his face like they were made for him. Sara watched him and pulled her rose tinted sunglasses from her purse. She placed them on her face and looked over at James who smiled at her. James began revving the engine causing the car to shake more. Quickly remembering Steven's advice, she reached behind her and pulled on her seatbelt. James pressed a few buttons on the screen before him.

"Ok, what did they say about my driving?" He asked as he continued to press different buttons. Sara pondered for a moment before answering.

"Steve just said to make sure I wore my seatbelt," James laughed and turned to her.

"He's right you know," James slammed his foot down on the accelerator casing the back wheels to spin on the spot for a second before the car shot off out of the garage door.

The sun was just hinting over the horizon causing the light to reflect of the damp road surface. Gil noticed the lack of traffic but it was still quite early in the morning. He looked out of the side window as they continued down the road at quite a quick speed. Billy was driving and Steve was sat in the passenger seat with a laptop on his knee. There was plenty of room on the back seat for the three of them. Greg had decided to start a conversation with Kim and now they were comparing different punk bands. Every so often Greg would stop to tell Billy which way to turn to get to the Diner. They passed a shopping centre and Gil saw the reflection of the other Hummer behind them. He could see Danielle driving, easily keeping up with Billy. A car passed them and left the road ahead free of traffic. Gil saw Danny check her rear-view mirror and smile. With Greg sat next to him he knew he wouldn't get a clear view through the rear window so he wound down the side window instead. He stuck his head out a little and saw the black BMW speeding up to them. It pulled up behind the rear Hummer and then waited a few seconds. He could easily hear the Beemer's engine as it switched to a higher gear. The car popped out onto the other side of the road to overtake the SUV's. Gil could see James behind the wheel with Sara sat next to him. She was laughing and James was smiling. The BMW quickly sped passed both the Hummers and pull in front of them. He noticed how bright Sara looked for a change. What happened last night seemed to of made her appear younger. Almost like the bright young student she had been when he had first met her. He hadn't seen her like that for a long time. Catherine had been right; all Sara needed was a decent man in her life. Grissom smiled for a second before it turned to a frown. If only he could have been the decent man in her life.

They all stepped into the cosy little diner and the bell above the door announced their arrival. It was practically empty before they went in. Just a few regulars eating or drinking at the counter. Now there were six scientists and six hungry soldiers crowding the place. The waitress behind the counter was young and her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked up at the sound of customers entering and recognised some of them as regulars. She smiled and told them to sit where they liked. They walked further into the diner and sat in the two end booths, across from each other. The booths were large and curved round a central table. They split into two groups and found that they could easily fit six into one booth. It had been quite since they sat down with all of them realising that there was still a little tension between the two groups. Warrick looked around the two tables and the other table looked just as subdued as his was. The only conversation was between Greg and Kim. He looked back at his own table and the people on it. Catherine was sat next to him and Gil next to her. James was sat on the end of the seat with Danielle and Sara.

"So it's your birthday is it James? How old are you?" Catherine asked across the table. James looked up from the menu in his hands.

"It's not normal conversation for a young lady like yourself to be asking a gentleman his age you know?" He said jokingly. Everyone at the table laughed a little and Catherine blushed. James smiled at her and she laughed too. "Actually, my birthday isn't for another two days and I will be 26,"

"You got anything planned for the special day?" Warrick asked. James shook his head as he continued to look over the menu. "Don't you have any family to spend it with?" James stopped and passed the menu to Danielle.

"I consider these guys as my family," Danielle took the menu and rested her head against James' shoulder for a minute. She knew that family was a difficult subject for James to talk about. James sucked in a breath before continuing. "None of us have got any immediate family to talk about. My parents died when I was a teenager," He looked down at the blonde hair that rested on his shoulder. "Danielle and Kim were raised in a foster home and Steve was abandoned in an orphanage when he was born. Wayne was married but now he's divorced with no kids and Billy's Dad died a couple of years ago," He sighed staring at the centre of the table.

"Well, why don't you let us take you out for your birthday?" Catherine asked. She looked at Warrick who nodded at the idea. "A nice dinner and then to a few bars," James seemed a little shocked by it but thought about for a few seconds. Danielle lifted her head from his shoulder.

"Sounds good," Danielle said before James could answer. She looked round James towards the other table. "Hey guys," She waited until she had their attention. "You guys up for a dinner and a pub crawl for the big man's birthday?" They all nodded quickly but the CSI's looked a little confused on both tables. Catherine looked at Warrick and Gil who just shrugged their shoulders. She then looked over at Sara who was just as confused as everyone else. She turned to James who was still thinking.

"James?" Catherine asked. He looked at her with questioning eyes. "What's a pub crawl?" Danielle was still talking across to the other table so James had to lean over to talk to Catherine.

"Basically, you go round every pub or bar in town and have one drink in each place. There are two main versions of a pub crawl. There's 'The London' version or 'The Yorkshire' version and both can be pretty rough on newbie's," He looked at Danielle who notice his eyes on her straight away. "What version we playing?" He asked her.

"It's your birthday James, you choose," She said. James shook his head.

"No, I chose last time," He turned to Catherine. "Why don't you choose Catherine? The London rules or the Yorkshire rules?" Everybody turned to her awaiting a decision.

"What's the difference?" She asked confused.

"Well London's has a lot more rules, the Yorkshire version is simpler," Danielle answered.

"Well, let's take it easy and say the Yorkshire rules," She had no idea what she had just agreed to. There was a loud cheer from the other table. She looked at them to see a lot of thumbs ups from the Englishmen. James and Danielle started to snigger at her choice.

"So what are these rules then?" Gil asked, not looking forward to the answer. James answered before Danielle could butt in.

"Well, you continue round the pubs until someone throws up. Then that person buys the drinks for the rest of the night," Gil eyes shot wide at the idea. He looked at Catherine who didn't look as shocked as he did.

"Well what happened if someone doesn't throw up," Catherine asked. James and Danielle looked at each other before looking back at Catherine.

"With the amounts that us English drink," James said while looking over the menu once more. "Someone always throws up,"

A/N: Please review.